There's Something About Chao
by TBH
Summary: Chao, our cuddly little blue compainions. They've been around a long time, possibly longer than us. But what dictates that they are on our side? Follow Tails and all his friends as they fight for their lives, their minds, and their very world.
1. Chapter 1

**The secret of Chao's**

It was an ordinary day for Green Hill. Perfect sun with a grand, yet strange pattern of tiled grass naturally swaying against the gentle, crisp breeze of early Spring wind. It is always a blessing to be in eternally peaceful weather, and the population of the nearby city of Station Square would agree. Tails agreed so well, that he had recently set up his new lab at Green Hill, with his own style of workmanship that was seen so well back at the Mystic Ruins. A medium sized building constructed into the hillside, but the interior large enough for a workforce to be able to set up inside easily. It was his own, and he could use it for whatever he wanted to use it for, his research and advancement in machines that is rivalled only by Dr. Robotnik himself, for tests of speed throughout obstacle courses, or just plain relaxation. Of course, with Green Hill nearby, there was no end to ways of relaxing in the day.

As it were, on this day Tails was taking a break from his ordinary work to wander the great plain he had forever knew as home, visiting the locations of his most interest, being the higher hills of the area, or the riverbed that lay throughout. He and Sonic was to meet with his friend Cream that day, and he was eager to arrive, so eager that in fact, he stood upon something he wished he had not. Slowly tilting his head to look down upon what he had trodden so rashly upon, his eyes met the victim and culprit of the action.  
"Sonic!" Tails began slightly panicked. "I think I stepped in something brown!"  
Reacting to his own thoughts, Sonic stole a glance at what Tails had stepped upon, and quickly looked away. A moment later, he turned to get a clearer picture.  
"Whoa." Sonic stuttered. "Err… I'm sure it's no problem, but I'll be just over there when you're ready."  
In his haste to get away, Sonic crouched down and begun to perform his spinball manoeuvre, speeding away over the nearest hill. Tails tilted his head in confusion at Sonic's actions and risked one more look upon the brown item that was upon his shoe and found it not to be as he expected. It was Chocola, the brown Chao. Realising his actions was much worse than before, he turned to see if anybody had seen him stand on Chocola. His nervous glance was met by the cold stare of Cheese, who had the natural light blue colour of his fellow Chao.  
On average Chao are cute, timid creatures that live only nearby clear watered lakes, but they are able to adapt and often kept as pets. Because of their cute nature, most people have at least one as a pet.  
Unfortunately for Tails, Cheese wasn't looking as cute or timid as he normally would, especially since he was openly wielding a large knife.  
"Get him off of your shoe or die." Cheese ordered, pointing the knife towards Chocola then aiming back at Tails. Nervously laughing slightly, Tails hurried to do so, but during the action, Cream was just passing over the nearby hill, holding a bouquet of flowers with only Blue and Orange petals. Noticing this, Cheese hurried to hide the knife by throwing it into the closest bush and returned to his cute, innocent face as normal Chao would. In Tails own rush to abandon evidence of any problems, Tails dropped Chocola and dived into the same bush, taking care to hide himself entirely.  
Cream was happily skipping up to Cheese until she noticed Chocola lying on the floor, in what seemed to be a lifeless state. Shocked at the sight of her own Chao standing over another Chao's corpse, she dropped the bouquet of flowers and stared in awe at the situation.  
"Cheese… is that…?" Cream forced out, keeping bay any tears she could.  
Cheese gave a look of shock to Cream, noticing what it looked like had happened.  
"Your dead, you little mutant!" Cheese whispered to Tails, trying to not give anything away to Cream, who with her ears were able to pick up the slightest wind of a voice.  
"What did you say?" Cream said, tears beginning to stream from her eyes as she found it harder to accept what had happened.  
"Chao chao?" Cheese replied, trying not to let Cream know of his ability to speak.  
Unsatisfied with this reply, Cream only found it in her to ask, "Did you kill Chocola?!"  
"CHAO!" Cheese protested, taken aback by the claim.  
"And I thought we went after Eggman to save him!" Cream cried, the tears now actively rolling down her face. "But you wanted him back only to kill him?!"  
Trying to defend himself, Cheese waved his hands around repeatedly 'Chao'ing in his defence.  
"Go… Go have a time-out!" Cream cried, turning and running from the area. Cheese, taking the accusations quite difficultly, dully stood on the ground before slowly leaving, not bothering to move Chocola's now dead body.  
It wasn't long until Tails found it safe enough to leave, and rushed not only out of the bush, but all the way back home, avoiding the few dangers that Green Hill offered, then sealing himself inside his home with his Titanium hanger door.

Meanwhile, Cheese's mind was only on the events that had already transpired. What Tails had done he was blamed for, and he had to take the blame, there was no choice. Tails must pay for it, he must be punished, he must feel the pain he gave Chocola, the sting of Death! But how could he do it without anyone knowing? Would it even matter? Nobody would suspect a Chao. All he had to do was go into Tails lab, and kill him, however way he could. That would settle it, and seal his fate.  
It had only been 30 minutes, and Tails was still shaken up, staying sealed tightly inside his lab, working on the Tornado 2 to take the weight off his mind. It wasn't working, and the weight of standing on Chocola hard enough to kill the poor Chao was unbearable. What madness would put him in a place where he would have to kill? There was little time to think about it, because only moments later the Titanium bay doors were being torn open with a squealing grind of metal, followed by Cheese smashing his head through the small remaining gap.  
"Your going to die, you weak little mutant!" Cheese shouted, tearing the rest of his body through the gap and quickly pulling a gun through the hole to aim at Tails. In his shock, Tails dived behind the Tornado 2 and used it as cover, listening to the bullets ricochet off of his precious plane, or fly past his head. As soon as the gun clicked to say it ran out, Tails made a break for it, running as fast as he could to his control room, sealing the door on his way in.  
Bullets bounced into and cracked his bullet proof glass, making it harder for him to think of any way he could get out as Cheese ever quickly approached his hiding spot. Daring to glance outside, Tails had accidentally pressed a button on the control panel, activating the Tornado's engine. Cheese took his opportunity to dive at the glass, but found out that when he had jumped he was being pulled back by the furious rotation of the Tornado 2's propeller, sucking him towards it.  
Seeing his doom before him, he had to do anything he could to save himself. Large, bloodstained claws grew from his tiny, adorable hands and he slammed then into the Tornado 2, once again giving off a sharp shriek of tearing metal which made Tails cringe, but only for a moment as he saw the red glint of blood piercing his precious airplane.  
"Chao's are evil! I KNEW IT!" Tails exclaimed, looking at the claws in awe.  
"But you won't live to tell anyone!" Cheese shouted, his claws dug deep into the Tornado, keeping him safe.  
A slight pause, a small gulp. Realisation set in. Getting out to tell anyone wouldn't be easy. The only way out of the room was the door, and to do that he would have to turn the fans off and unseal himself from safety.  
"Wait… that's it!" Tails shouted, pushing another button on his control panel. Cheese curiously tilted his head as sections the floor rumbled slightly, only for it to lift up below him, crushing the Tornado 2 quickly into the roof before he could act, and one with one last spark, exploding the Tornado, sending shrapnel all over the room, bouncing off the glass causing Tails to hide under the desk. It was another few minutes before Tails dare move, or even breathe loudly.  
"Sonic's obstacle course. How lucky to have it." Tails mentioned as he unsealed the room. "Ugh, this mess is going to be hell to clean up, but at least he's gone."  
Tails looked at the wreckage one last time, just in case he had indeed survived, but nothing had moved and all in sight was shrapnel. The only thing of importance was three long pieces of shrapnel covered in blood, but it was expectable. Not looking back, Tails hurried to leave to search for his hero, Sonic.  
Moments later, the shrapnel jittered, budged, and then threw the wreckage aside. It wasn't blood covered shrapnel, it was claws. Long, sharp, bloody claws as Cheese pulled himself out of his would-be tomb, cursing and condemning Tails as he left.

It was a hard day of searching for Tails, of questions and no answers. He couldn't find Sonic, or reason for the happenings of the day. He was of scientific mind, so fate was no possibility, but how could he not see Chocola before he stood upon the Chao? More so, how could Cheese be able to hide such large claws? Perhaps religion was the only answer here, and that they were in fact, of the devil. But, he still needed to tell someone, and at this point, it could be anyone. Sonic was no where to be seen, and Cream would still be dismayed about the loss of Chocola. It wasn't long until Tails had realised he was right next to Angel Island, which had once again fallen into the ocean but not because of the broken emerald. Knuckles would listen, he might be able to help!  
Motivated by determination, he took to the skies in hopes of sighting Knuckles in his usual place, in front of the emerald.  
He had been alone on Angel Island for too long, and the pain of being so solitary was finally beginning to get to him. Knuckles had done what most people had. He got a Chao, and raised it on Angel Island to accompany him on his eternal mission of protecting the Master Emerald, one of which he fails often. The day was like most days, except now he wasn't in the dark skies. He was once more, sitting near the emerald, looking around the area for any kind of invaders that may seek to harm the emerald. His Chao, who he had decided to name Knuckles as a testament of its potential power, was gleefully flying around the area, searching more for nuts than intruders. Unfortunately for him, he spot a fuzzy yellow intruder heading their way, and had to hurry back to Knuckles bountilessly, only to let Knuckles do the work. Upon reaching him, all he could do was tug upon Knuckles' arm and point him in the right direction, who replied with a silent, stern nod and prepared to greet the intruder with force.  
Tails had seen Knuckles now, and was descending while wondering exactly what to say. Chao's were evil, it was simple. Telling someone that their cute pet will murder them, not so. But someone had to know, someone had to help him spread the word before the Chao could do anything drastic. As soon as he touched the floor, he made it his business to run straight over to Knuckles without looking around to tell him of the news.  
"Knuckles! You gotta help me!" Tails spluttered, confusing him slightly. "Chao are EVIL! They tried to kill me, and they have claws!"  
Knuckles watching the frantic mad babble of Tails shook his head and rested a hand on Tails shoulder.  
"Tails, Chao's aren't evil, I know by experience. You're eleven years old, you shouldn't let nightmares get to you." Knuckles advised, looking back to his chao. Out of curiosity, Tails looked over Knuckles shoulder, only to find what he had least expected. Another Chao, red in colour, appearance of an angel, intent of a devil.  
"Not you too!" Tails shouted, pushing off Knuckles and jumping back. "They're murderers! Assassins! Killers in a cute outfit!"  
Short fused but controlled, Knuckles slammed his fist into the ground to silence Tails. It worked too well, as it made him fall over too. During the panic however, the Chao in question was able to begin to make his own move. Recovering a tiny, two way radio he had hidden before, he was already in communication with other Chao's, for Tails knew too much and needed to be silenced, now. He would be paid for the information, in seeds rather than currency. A way to live, crooked or not.  
"Think it through Tails, Chao have been in society for years now, years before you were born! Why would they strike now, when before you were born humanity was weaker?" Knuckles announced, attempting to deter Tails.  
"But, Cheese attacked me! He tried to KILL me!" Tails argued, clearly going nowhere.  
"Tails, you need a break from your work, go get some sleep." Knuckles replied, waving him away.  
"Fine, don't believe me, I'll find someone else, someone has to help me!" Tails announced, quickly taking off. Left blinking, Knuckles decided to ignore the event and return to his post at the Master Emerald.

He ran around Station Square, trying with every person he could to warn them, to tell them that Chao are Evil, but none would have it. He caused so much trouble he was shunned from the city and banned for the day, not allowed to return unless he wanted to find out what happens inside a prison. He had nowhere left to go but home. And it was just how he left it, a burning wreck.  
Tired from his constant unheard preaching, he was going to go straight to his bed. Only if it were so easy. Once he had entered the building, he had failed to notice that the wreckage had been not only moved, but pushed around the room and littered all over. He had been watched from when he entered the room, and now, it was time for him to pay for his inattentiveness.  
Nearly instantly, red alarms were going off with extra durable steel barriers closing all over the room, sealing the inside perfectly from the out, air tightly. Surprised by the sudden rush of movement, all Tails could do was look around the room shocked, before looking back to the control room where he first caused the wreckage inside. A shrill laugh rose from the room, spine chillingly cold and downright frightening, but it served to tell Tails who it was.  
"You… but I killed you! I crushed you with the Tornado!" Tails exclaimed, in fear and awe.  
"Ha! You, kill me?! Impossible!" Was the reply from his bleeding blue nemesis, Cheese. "You couldn't kill me no matter how hard you tried, and now your trapped here! I'm going to kill you, nice and slow."  
To rush an already panicked Tails, Cheese burst through the previously bullet-proof glass that was the window to the control room and flew straight towards Tails. Distraught, he dived to the floor, but not before receiving a large cut to his cheek. With only the option to move forward, or backwards into Cheese, Tails jumped back up and rushed into the control room and slammed down on a button, shutting the remainder of the window behind another thick blast shield.  
"Ok… life or death. What can I do right now?" Tails asked, only to hear his own question echoed in the room. "I've no choice; I'll have to activate the self destruct on the lab. The map was in here, but given the state of the room, it's among the torn up papers." Tails glanced around hopefully for the map, only to be greeted with the first thud of Cheese hitting the window's blast shield. "I've not got the time to find it. I need to get out of here. Going out the door would be going to Cheese, but there's not another way."  
Noticing a small impact in the floor covered by the torn papers, Tails' inquisitive side took over. He picked himself up and kicked the papers aside, revealing a small hole that had been created at some point.  
"Yes! An escape!" Tails exclaimed, jumping down it in a hurry. It wasn't hard for Cheese to hear Tails go, given his excitement, and let out a small snicker before turning and flying away from the control room.

Thanks to his two tails, Tails was able to fly down the hole safely. At the bottom he could see all of the pipes and workings that kept his structure alive.  
"Ok. The first button was in the weapon storage room, hidden behind… what was it?" Tails begun in thought. "It was behind… the safe, yeah, that was it. To make sure thieves went for the empty safe rather than touching the button."  
With his destination decided, the first thing he had to do was find the first vent he could break open and go down. So, naturally he began walking among the pipes and shafts. Moments through the tunnel, something unexpected happened. The floor completely burst open, smashing the pipes and structures nearby, flooding the area with debris and gas. Shocked by the noise and sight, Tails once again naturally dived towards to the floor.  
"No escape now, Tails. You will die here!" Cheese announced frenziedly charging at Tails. Panicked by the speed and force of the movement, Tails jumped up and spun around, his tails smashing powerfully into Cheese, knocking him back into the gas and causing further amounts of gas to leak out. It was becoming difficult to see now, and Tails had realised that his attack had forced one of Cheese's claws to stab into his tail, wounding his mobility, flight and fighting ability.  
"You little mutant! Stop resisting and just suffer!" Cheese howled, rushing once more. With nowhere else to go, Tails quickly dived down the hole Cheese created, and attempted to fly using his tails, only to find out this caused immense amounts of pain, forcing him to slam into the floor below.  
"Ow! Why did I use concrete tiles on the weapons storage floor?!" Tails spluttered, pushing himself back onto his feet. With no time to spare, he rushed over to the safe and dived his hand over it, pressing the button behind the safe.  
"One down, four to go… oh crap." Tails said as he was turning to leave, only to be greeted by Cheese who was wielding a machine gun he would usually have mounted on his Tornado. "Wait! Shoot that and you'll blow us both up!"  
"Haven't you realised it yet Tails?" Cheese questioned, snickering. "I can't die, you haven't got a prayer of getting out alive, and soon, our plan will come into action!"  
"Your plan? What are you going to do?!" Tails questioned desperately.  
"The world will find out, soon enough. But you die! Here, and now!" Cheese said, beginning to squeeze the trigger. Tails shut his eyes, unable to bare hearing the gun fire, and the bullet strike him. It was a few moments until he realised that he wasn't shot.  
Cheese had a bullet hole, directly through his head and skull. He wavered a moment, before collapsing atop of the machine gun he was wielding. Tails rescuer was none other than Emerl, the Gizoid that was thought to have blown up with Robotnik's latest Death Egg.  
"Emerl! But how?! You blew up!" Tails called out distraught. Shaking his head, Emerl motioned for Tails to follow him out of the room. "I can't go yet, I need to set the self destruct for the base." As a reply, Emerl shook his head once more, and put one finger up, then pointed to Tails.  
"Yes, I have a switch… wait, do you mean that you've activated the others?" Tails questioned. Emerl nodded, and motioned Tails to leave once more. "Ok, let's get out of here."

It took ten minutes to get back to the control room, and five minutes for Tails to hot wire the blast doors open so they could leave, but once they had run from the lab Tails pressed the final button, causing an immense explosion to cover over Green Hill and shine through Station Square.  
"There's no chance nobody would have seen that, come on Emerl, let's go find some place to rest." Tails said, limping on away as his pains begun to catch up to him. Without any questions, Emerl nodded and followed Tails away from the burnt down lab.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Secret of Chao**

Dawn was breaking over Green Hill Zone as Tails awoke to a crackling fire at his makeshift camp-site, seeing charred fish continue to burn over the fire. With a short yawn, he dragged himself up to a sitting position. Shooting pains soon coursed through his body as he gave out a yelp. Everywhere was aching, and his face and tails felt like they were being slowly cut through with a rusty butter knife. Emerl was quickly at Tails' side, only able to look at his friend rather than offer assistance.  
"Don't worry." Tails grunted through gritted teeth. "I just sprained something. Adrenaline must have covered the pain."  
Rather than pursue the topic, Emerl decided to move over to the fire and pick up one of the burning fish, offering it to Tails who quickly refused  
"No offence Emerl, but that is so burnt I'm afraid it might burn me." Tails announced, eyeing the crispy black fish. Shrugging his reply, Emerl dropped the fish onto the fire and let it smoulder.  
"For a little guy, Cheese really got me." Tails mentioned, looking over his wounds. "But right now we need to find help."  
Emerl was fast to disagree, shaking his head and pointing to Tails.  
"Yes Emerl, I know I need help too. Perhaps I could find a doctor, but they ask too many questions." Tails replied, understanding Emerl's concerns. "I guess I could hide in my Mystic Ruins lab, so long as you can get us there. We need to stay presumably dead right now."  
Emerl nodded, acknowledging Tails' statement whilst he stamped out the camp-fire. He begun to carefully pick Tails up, ensuring to support his tails, before jetting off to cross the zone.

Meanwhile back at his previous base, a crowd had begun to gather around the remains of Tails' base, held only by a thin line of police as others slowly searched the wreckage, dishearteningly turning up parts of the Tornado 2 covered in splotches of blood. Rumours and theories begun to circulate the crowd on how Tails died, or if he's dead at all. All were wild speculations, and quickly died among the crowd.  
As if to answer the questions (but most likely a coincidence) a well rounded metallic craft quickly descended , bearing the emblem and the man himself, Dr. Eggman, laughing as he so often does.  
"Eggman! Defensive line, aim to kill!" The commanding officer ordered, followed by a flurry of activity from both the police at the crowd and those searching the ruins, forming ranks and aiming handguns at Eggman.  
"Plan to shoot already?" Eggman simply retorted. "And this time I'm not even here to take over. The nerve."  
"What are you doing here, Eggman?" The officer demanded, glaring at Eggman down the iron sights of his handgun.  
"If you must know I'm here to bid farewell to my rival." Eggman announced, faking a sympathetic face. "The poor boy went mad before blowing himself up. I'm sure most of you remember his little rant about Chao's being evil. Poor, mad fox." Whispers begun to circulate among the people who remembered to those who didn't know. "Perhaps I could take advantage of this, but why ruin the moment? Farewell, Miles Prower!"  
And as quickly as he had appeared, Eggman flew away again to continue what he was up to, where ever he came from.

As the day begun to close the crowd dispersed, finding no signs of Tails' corpse but declaring him deceased, expecting nothing would survive the explosion. Little would too, unless they were inside a box of reinforced metal.  
As night fell, a well known blue blur begun to rush around the ruins, lifting rocks as he searched for his prize.  
"Aha!" He called as he prized a red gem from the ruin. "I knew he'd have one. That just leaves five to go." As quick as he came, he dashed away from the ruin and into Green Hill Zone, pursuing his goal.

Time passed slowly for the next few days for many people, some expecting Eggman to attack, others mourning the loss of one of the heroes who had saved them in the past. All thoughts of Tails still being alive had swiftly faded among the appearance of Eggman. He himself however did not know the grief over his death, as Tails was in his base at the Mystic Ruins, resting his wounds.  
"This sucks." Tails moaned from his bed. "I should be out there, gathering the emeralds to prepare for fighting the Chao, not lying around in hiding" Slowly Tails pulled himself out of his bed, hardly letting out a yawn or grunt. "Only if I could use Chaos Energy, I could heal myself like Shadow does."  
Hearing the movement coming from Tails' room, Emerl quickly headed over and entered the room to ensure Tails was all right and not moving around too much.  
"Well I don't know until I try." Tails noted, heading to his drawer. "Emerl! We're going out to find a Chaos Emerald. No arguing it either. I've decided!"  
Listening to the order, Emerl lowered his head as a sign of his disagreement, but made no move to stop Tails.  
"My emerald radar will take us to the closest one. It worked when we were going to fight Chaos, it should work again." Tails announced, raising it from the drawer. Emerl nodded in acknowledgement, moving to take it off of Tails' hands, who quickly retracted them. "I'm not sending you Emerl, I'm going. I need to try and use Chaos Energy. You either come with me or stay. Choose, but I'm going now."  
Tails moved from his desk and quickly around Emerl, stumbling down the stairs with grunts of pain as he flexed his damaged muscles. With a short shrug, Emerl turned and quickly begun to follow.

Meanwhile at Eggman's base alarms were going off. Intruder detected alongside a massive loss of robotic forces.  
"What is going on?" Eggman exclaimed angrily. "Who's attacking? You foolish robots, tell me!"  
"The attacker is." A robot began to reply, only to explode shortly after.  
"Damn it. Deploy a Shadow Android!" Eggman commanded, smashing a hand through a panel of glass into a red button labelled 'Emergency'. A short rumble and a set of jet noises and the Shadow Android was past Eggman and headed to find the intruder, being watched through Eggman's computer. Short, stressful minutes of waiting were all it took for the android to reach the intruder and found it to be none other than...  
"Sonic! Why is he here? How is he here?" Eggman furiously demanded, slamming a fist into his computer.  
"Don't worry Doctor, I'll handle this one." The android commented.  
"Well, I can replace it." Eggman groaned, turning to think without distraction.  
The android shot its missiles at Sonic, who jumped to avoid them and fired himself at the android in a homing attack, only to be thrown aside by it's robotic reactions. Chips of paint hit the floor as the robot shook his hand, which had been torn open from the attack. Uncaring however, the android begun to fire its wrist mounted machine guns at Sonic, causing the hedgehog to run at rapid speeds. Sonic ran at a circular angle, quickly closing the gap between the two and avoiding the bullets. When he was next to the android, he let out a volley of attacks, beating the metallic shell inwards before Spin Dashing to blast the android away. Dusting himself off, Sonic begun to leave, not even glancing back at his fallen opponent.  
"Oh, you'd like to think he was destroyed, wouldn't you Sonic?" Eggman commented. "That will come back to haunt you soon."  
Precautionary besides his taunts however, Eggman sealed the door shut, and then lowered a blast door to reinforce it.  
"This definitely won't hold him out." Eggman mentioned, evaluating the thick armour. "But it will slow him down and tire him some more."  
Eggman sat down in his chair next to the computer and turned away, watching his remaining security and tracking Sonic's progress. It was only a short matter of time until he reached the door, stopping a moment to think.  
Bang! The blast door dented slightly, indicating something was trying to get in, by means of brute force. Bang! The dent increased and the door begun to bend. For a thick sheet of metal, it was being beaten down quickly. Bang! The dent increased and the door begun to bend inward. Bang! A bolt flew from the door, thudding dully on the floor beside Eggman. Bang! A hole begun to form in the centre of the door. One more hit and the door would easily break. Wham! The hedgehog was tackled by a well damaged Shadow android.  
The android used his initiative to slam his damaged fists repeatedly into Sonic's torso, causing multiple cuts before being kicked off. As soon as he was up at his feet, Sonic jumped into the air and threw down three rings in a straight path. Upon hitting the floor, he sped through the rings in a Light Speed Dash down the path, and through the android in the centre of the path, tearing it in half before it exploded. Sonic dusted himself off once more and moved to the door, not even stopping to evaluate his wounds. He threw two more rings down, one on each side of the door, and used them to smash through the door.  
"Welcome, Sonic." Eggman begun, turning his chair to face his adversary. "And to what do I owe this pleasure?"  
"Cut the crap, Eggman!" Sonic snapped back angrily.  
"The least you could do is call me Doctor Robotnik!" Eggman interrupted. "Now since I'm not taking over the world, what do you want?"  
"I want answers." Sonic seethed. "Did you..."  
"Kill Tails, right?" Eggman interrupted. "Sorry, you have the wrong man. The door is behind you, try not to break everything on your way out."  
"Damn it! Don't you dare treat this as a joke!" Sonic shouted, spin-dashing past Eggman and into his computer, smashing many of the components before standing to face Eggman. "My little buddy is gone! He was like a brother to me!"  
"One which you abandoned when he stood on a Chao." Eggman reminded.  
"I freaked out, okay?" Sonic continued to shout, tears forming in his eyes. "Now tell me! If not you, who killed Tails?"  
"Come now Sonic, your being rash and vengeful." Eggman argued. "That's my job."  
Rather than reply, Sonic proceeded to pull out a Chaos Emerald, and then another, until he had four Chaos Emeralds gently floating around him.  
"Eggman. Tell me or I'll use these four Chaos Emeralds to perform Chaos Blast." Sonic slowly warned.  
"Have you gone insane?" Eggman exclaimed in shock. "No mortal body can hold four emeralds worth of power! You'd be torn apart before the blast begun, if it ever begun at all! Only your super form could handle that much energy!"  
"Just tell me!" Sonic cried, the Chaos Emeralds beginning to glow with energy.  
"Sonic, this won't bring back Tails." Eggman calmly replied, ignoring his fear a moment before. "And you'll just get yourself killed. Tails wouldn't want that now, would he?"  
"But... but I can't just sit around and do nothing again!" Sonic exclaimed, distraught, his tears welling up in his eyes.  
"But this time running in head on is not an option." Eggman pointed out. "Now stop trying to blow up. I'll tell you what I know, so long as you will listen without questioning me."  
There was a short pause as the tears begun to stream down Sonic's face. All of his memories of fighting Eggman, to come to the point of needing his help. With Tails dead, and Eggman offering to help, his world was beginning to turn upside down, and he had no ticket back.  
"Fine." Sonic croaked painfully, the Chaos Emeralds losing their glow. "Tell me everything you know."  
"Of course I will Sonic. Not you will not like anything I say." Eggman grinned. "Have a seat, or just sit there. It will still take awhile."

"It's somewhere around here Emerl. Can you start digging while I look around the area?" Tails asked as he put his emerald radar away. Emerl nodded, shrugging off the backpack he was carrying before, searching it for its collapsible shovel. Tails meanwhile attempted to take to the skies, yelping as renewed pain shot through his tails. He would have to walk around this zone, where ever he was. He hadn't really paid much attention to where he was going, only following the signal of his radar. How would he get back after finding the emerald? He could think about that later, for now he needed to focus on the Chaos Emerald. Emerl had started digging his hole to help look, it was Tails turn to search.  
However, they were not alone in the zone as nearby, hidden among the hills a small, shadowy figure with a ball of green flame floating above his head was looking down upon them, watching them move before retreating back behind the hill.  
"This is Darkness, come in, over." The figure spoke into a radio.  
"This is Command, what's the situation? Over." The reply asked.  
"The fox is alive and has taken the bait. Awaiting orders, over." Darkness replied, lifting his head to look over the hill at the two heroes.  
"Separate the two and end the fox, over." Command ordered darkly.  
"Don't worry, it will be over. Over and out." Darkness finished sinisterly, putting the radio away before glancing down at his already separating targets. The attack would be too easy, but a necessary move for the Chao. Taking off and flying low, Darkness begun to pursue the moving Tails.  
"How can such a bright gem hide so well?" Tails groaned to himself, his head constantly flicking from side to side as he searched for the Chaos Emerald. "Ugh, I really need to upgrade the tracker, it's too vague."  
"Oh Tails... Come out, come out, where ever you are." A dark voice mocked, a shadowy Chao descending from above him, floating just behind him.  
"What the?" Tails begun, turning to see the location of the voice, giving out a small yelp of fear as he saw his opponent. "But you should think I'm dead!"  
"We were suspicious why Cheese didn't report back. We figured you'd need the Chaos Emeralds." Darkness goaded, grinning, revealing a set of sharp, jagged teeth. "And you followed the scent like a dog, just to die."  
Darkness swung a clawed hand at Tails, tearing his cuts on his face back open. With a yelp of pain, Tails jumped back, turned, and begun to flee, fuelled by adrenaline. With a short laugh, Darkness pursued. Rather than chase Tails directly however, he turned and left sight. Tails ensured to be a good distance away from where he saw the Chao, he begun to halt slowly to a stop, bending over and panting as he did. Taking only a short moment to breathe, Tails raised his head to look for his pursuer, however he found him closer than he had expected, and received a large slash across his chest, knocking him to the floor.  
"Would you like to suffer, Tails? Or do you not fear death?" Darkness mockingly questioned, scratching a claw over Tails' wrist, drawing blood but not cutting the flesh.  
"You won't win!" Tails grunted defiantly. "Sonic will find out and stop you!"  
"I think not." Darkness grinned. "He won't know until it is too late."  
"He'll find out, he always does!" Tails argued, crawling back slowly.  
"Oh I think not." Darkness replied, slamming his claws through Tails' wrist, forcing him to call out in agony. "Eggman announces his goals. We will not, and the only other person to know is bleeding to death, by a slit wrist, stomach and head."  
Darkness let out a menacing laugh as Tails slowly turned his head, looking for options of escape, to buy himself time and run to find the Chaos Emerald. He could try and heal himself, or at least try and beat his foe. But it was of little use, his arm was pinned to the ground, and he was beginning to get dizzy. His sight had begun to blur, and his eyelids were heavy. This really could be the end. Falling darkness... and ensuing silence.  
"Chaos Spear!" A voice called out, a bolt of yellow energy flying and hitting Darkness in the face, knocking him across the floor.  
"Who threw that?" Darkness demanded, throwing himself into the air to see his opponent.  
"Chaos Rift!" The voice continued, a bolt of black energy flying to and engulfing Darkness.  
"Curse you! I'll be back!" Darkness furiously called, disappearing within the darkness as it disappeared itself.  
"Hmm. He looks a mess." The man spoke, looking down on Tails. "The power of one emerald will only delay him, I need to take him with me."  
Acting as quick as he had moments before, he picked Tails up and jetted from their position, leaving only bloodstains behind which indicated anything had been there.

"Eggman, you honestly expect me to believe this nonsense?" Sonic exclaimed, pacing around the room irritatedly.  
"Of course I do, I have no point to lie right now." Eggman argued calmly. "Tails wasn't an idiot, he wouldn't look at anything illogically, much less go insane overnight. When he stood on Chocola, he must have invoked the wrath of these Chao he has been shouting about. They killed him, not suicide."  
"You're insane Eggy." Sonic replied harshly. "You expect me to believe Chao's killed my lil' buddy? How could they do that?"  
"If I knew all the facts, I would probably be attempting to fight them right now." Eggman stated. "I can't have someone attempting to usurp my place as evil genius now can I?"  
"I don't care about your position in your fake society." Sonic straightly replied. "I just want to know who killed my little buddy."  
"Believe me if you want to, Sonic. But perhaps we should move on to what I want of this end of the bargain." Eggman continued, a small grin appearing across his face. "It's simple really. I want you to find Shadow for me, since you won't listen to reason. I would also like you to leave a Chaos Emerald behind, so I can begin to make robots."  
"What makes you think I'd do that?" Sonic demanded, glaring at Eggman.  
"Because your a honest hedgehog, as always. You'll uphold your part of the bargain as I did mine." Eggman commented, smirking as he looked down on his rival.  
"I mean, leave a Chaos Emerald behind. You must be insane to think I'd do that." Sonic argued further.  
"Well apparently I'm the insane one, but at least I'm preparing to fight against the bad guys this time, unlike you." Eggman retorted. "Just fetch Shadow then, but be quick about it."  
"Hmm... for what help you've been, I should think twice about this." Sonic angrily replied, moving over to the door. "Enjoy insanity, Eggy. Let me know how it help you."  
With a short stretch, Sonic ran out of the door and down the hallway, not stopping for anything in his path, rushing as fast as he possibly could to leave Eggman's base, possibly to uphold his side of the bargain, or perhaps to just get away.

"Commander, we have lost two agents in the past two days!" A Chao shouted in their secret headquarters. "How Tails has managed to beat two is beyond possibility! This could have all been avoided if we only didn't have Cheese..."  
"Silence!" A menacing voice boomed, silencing the Chao instantly. "They are not dead, as you seem to believe. We do not die that easily! Tails will be dealt with. For now, how is the infiltration?"  
"Sir, it's still on course. We have slowly infiltrated the lives of many people, and our numbers are strong. We are even pets to people in seats of power." The Chao replied calmly. "We currently have agents under the Head of Police, one of the Generals in GUN and even the Vice President."  
"Then preparations are nearly complete." The voice replied, letting out a satisfied grunt. "Have them acquire the data. Afterwards, hunt for the remaining Chaos Emeralds that may be lying around."  
"Sir, Yes Sir!" The Chao stated, turning and flying away from the Commander as to follow his orders. Hell would soon rain over Station Square. Chaos would soon ensue, and nobody in the world even knew that it was going to happen.


	3. Chapter 3

**The Secret of Chao**

Sonic was still running as fast as he could hours after his meeting with Robotnik. Nothing was making any sense any more. His best friend, Tails, was dead. His long time rival and nemesis, Dr. Eggman was now helping him without any reward he could see and no matter where he turned, there was no clear reason as to what killed his friend. Could he believe that Tails killed himself in a lab accident? Of course not, he was too clever. Did Eggman sabotage any of Tails' machines? No, he would have gloated and used it in some sort of effort for world domination. With the obvious out of the way, there really wasn't any answer.

He had finally decided on a path to take however. If anyone could get the information he needed, it would be G.U.N, the Guardian Unit of Nations. To get to them, all he would need to do is contact Rouge, who would probably know where Shadow was too. It would be killing two birds with one stone... _killing, the root of all the trouble_.

Shaking his head to remove his mind from the topic, Sonic turned around, re-aiming himself back at Station Square, where he could begin to look for Rouge.

Tails was lying down, beginning to regain consciousness. However, the ground didn't feel like what it should. It was soft and would easily give way to pressure, not that he could apply any in his state as he felt as if someone had torn his body apart and poorly reattached everything. It was much darker than he expected it to be too, though he could only open his eyes partly. No, not dark, just dim, with a yellowish glow. The light wasn't soft either, it was sharp. Artificial. Tails tried to push himself up to a sitting position to survey where he was, but only managed to roll himself off of the place he was sitting onto the hard floor. Apparently he had been on a bed, as the following groan of springs returning to their former position indicated his removal. It wasn't long after the groan that a nearby door opened, followed by the light tap of slightly metallic shoes walking across the room to where Tails fell. With a short grunt, the person picked Tails back up from the ground and casually dumped him back on the bed, giving no consideration to his comfort. Tails returned a groan from the gesture before attempting to murmur some gesture of thanks sarcastically.

"Why do you keep insisting on rolling in your sleep?" The person said, grunting to himself. "Someone would think I'm holding you here hostage."

Tails attempted to reply, twitching his mouth and forcing movement between his lips, finding it hard to force the energy out, half due to his half-awake state, half due to the lack of energy he was finding. The person proceeded to head for the exit before Tails could even begin, but Tails was determined to catch him before he left. He tried again to push himself back up, only to hold an arm out, but only found his reward was another thump into the floor.

The person left off a tisk, turning back around and placing Tails once again on the bed.

"Alright, you've made your point. You're awake, arn't you?" The person asked, looking down at Tails. Tails already knew he couldn't talk, so he only struggled a short nod. "Good to hear, but I don't expect to hear it long."

The person paced the room, moving back to the door he entered through.

"You're poisoned. It's a fatal, exotic poison which was forced into your wrist. That Chao you were fighting must have some good backing, as it's not cheap to make, and worse to purchase." The person explained, looking over his shoulder. "It's so bad that I can't just use one emerald to heal you. I need two, and I don't know where another is." Tails struggled on the bed physically. It was stupid enough that his life was on the line, but worse that his current chance of survival lay in his Emerald Radar, just in his reach but outside his energy limit. Rather than struggle on, he attempted to beckon over his saviour to come and get the radar from below him. He had succeeded in getting the person's attention, though he gave an irritated grunt.

"What are you fussing over?" The person questioned, moving Tails' near limp body aside to pick up the radar. "Hmm... I saw this on the floor next to you when I found you. What is this anyway?"

Unable to answer once again, Tails tried to lead him to the back of the radar where the power source lay under a thin sheet of plastic. However, the person was exploring the device on his own accord, writing Tails' fidgets off as attempts to get comfortable. Noticing the indent at the back, the person quickly removed the plastic to find the power source of the radar.

"A Chaos Emerald?" The person shockingly announced before taking it out. "No, it's not... It's a fake. But, the faker managed to use Chaos Control with a fake before. What's stopping me healing this kid with one?" The person gave a quick grin before exiting the room to get his own emerald, returning shortly after. "What do you know, it's your lucky day fox. Stay still, this is going to sting."

The person allowed the emeralds to take orbit around him, slowly and calmly floating around him as he prepared to use the two on the fox. He'd never used Chaos energy directly on something else, but he was about to find out what he could do with it. "Chaos...!"

Sonic had stopped just outside of Rouge's Club, half questioning why he had decided to come in the first place. It was too early for it to be open, but that was hardly his concern. Even if he could strike a deal with Rouge, this was still Rouge, the master thief, and top G.U.N agent. And if he negotiated something that worked, Rouge would always get more out of it than he would expect. It was his last option other than negotiating with Eggman, so he gulped, swallowing his pride, and knocked on the door. Minutes passed, feeling like longer to our hyper hedgehog, as he impatiently knocked on the door again in an attempt to get attention to anyone inside.

_Is anyone even here? Figures, that has been my luck as of late. _Sonic thought to himself, preparing to jet off. His immediate sprint met a painful end however, as he collided straight into a large, red robot.

"Ouch, hey, what the heck?" Sonic called out, rubbing his nose and looking at what he collided with. "Oh, Omega. Have you seen Rouge?"

"AFFIRMATIVE! SHE IS WAITING FOR YOU INSIDE." Omega said with his blunt, robotic tone before passing Sonic and opening the door, letting himself in without damaging Rouges property. "INITIATING STANDBY PROTOCAL."

_She could have greeted me herself, sheesh _Sonic mentally scolded her before letting himself in.

"Well hey blue boy, long time no see." Rouge greeted Sonic from behind her bar, cleaning a glass to a thorough shine. "So what'll it be, honey?"

"Nothing, I'm here to talk, not drink." Sonic said, leading himself to the bar to sit down.

"From what I've heard, you definitely need one." Rouge said, putting down the glass she was cleaning. "And it's not like you to make a random house call."

"I'm looking for information, and I know you can get it." Sonic quickly said, looking towards Rouge to try and catch eye contact. "And I need to find Shadow."

"Hmm... that's quite the request, information, AND Shadow?" Rouge said, picking up her next glass. "Information has never came cheap, ya know."

"I know, and I know you. What is the cost going to be?" Sonic gritted, knowing that he wouldn't like what's coming next.

"Well, how about a trade? I'll give you something, you give me something back." Rouge said, looking through the glass at Sonic.

"Can we cut to the chase? I got enough on my plate." Sonic said. "And I bet the press won't be far behind me, if I stay still long enough."

"Ah yes, we've all heard the story. In fact, I have something related to that." Rouge mentioned, putting her cloth into the glass to clean, diverting her view from Sonic.

"Information, I hope." Sonic muttered.

"Unfortunately no, a favour actually." Rouge said bluntly, placing the half-clean glass down to make eye contact with Sonic. "But unless you do this, I won't help you."

"Fine, what is it?" Sonic replied, gritting his teeth again for anything she might throw at him.

"I want you to go to his lab and find his body." Rouge replied. Sonic stopped gritting his teeth, quickly changing expressions between shock and disbelief.

"You... want me to... what?" Sonic uttered, trying to collect his thoughts.

"Like it or not, that boy was a hero, and G.U.N plan to give him a hero's funeral." Rouge begin, not breaking contact with Sonic, although his eyes were unfocused and he was becoming pale "Now, who better to retrieve the corpse than, not only our greatest hero, but his brother in arms?"

"But..." Sonic stuttered, distress in his voice.

"You do that, and I'll tell you where Shadow is." Rogue finished her proposal, but continued all the same. "If you don't, I'll find someone else, but you won't get what you want."

"It's too sudden." Sonic replied, shifting away. However, the bar stool was screwed to the metallic floor, so he couldn't gain much distance.

"It needs to be done soon, otherwise the body won't be in any condition to bury properly." Rouge mentioned, keeping her stare on Sonic. "I'll not go into details, but you need to do it today. If you don't, no information."

"F... fine, I'll do it." Sonic mumbled, lifting from the chair to exit.

"Glad to hear it. There'll be something for you to put it in at the lab." Rouge mentioned.

"He's not an 'it', he's Tails!" Sonic snapped, getting agitated thinking about what he's about to do. "But I want my information, and Shadow's location for this."

"I'll see what I can do." Rouge teased, picking up her glass and cleaning it again.

Sonic grunted as he shut the door, sitting next to it to collect his thoughts. _What kind of favour is that? Pick up my little buddy's... my little buddy from his lab. What the heck is wrong with her._ Soon realising sitting wasn't helping his thoughts, he got up and did what he knew best to do. He ran.

Tails was stirring again from the bed he was resting atop of, slowly forcing his eyes open, but finding it was still a challenging job. He had more energy, but it didn't feel the same. It was like the light, it was artificial, but unlike the light, it felt uncontrollable. Chaotic. Unreliable. He pulled himself up to a sitting position in his bed, rubbing his eyes to wake himself more. _Where am I... and who was that guy?_ He thought to himself, staring around the room. He quickly noticed he had a table on the bedside with a glass of water, and a yellow Chaos Emerald on the side. _Is that... why is that lying around here?_ Tails went to pick it up, lifting it from its resting place and inspecting it. It had a strange feel to it, but he knew exactly what it was. _It's the fake Chaos Emerald that I made during the ARK. But, why does it feel so different..._

Tails clambered out of his bed, nearly collapsing when he hit the floor, his legs unready to support his body but his hand catching the table. Unfortunately, it knocked the water over and straight on top of the fox. Shrugging it off and standing back up, he gazed around the room again, then at himself, remembering his wounds from the past fights. Where the Chao had pierced and poisoned him lay a large scar, along with a missing tuft of fur. The rest of his body was also spotted with blood, glazing his white fur with a red pattern. He quickly looked for a mirror and noticed that his cheek was also scabbed, but fortunately not scarred from his first encounter.

_Wow, I really look like a mess. No wonder Emerl was so worried._ Tails thought to himself, holding the mirror in one hand whilst touching his wound with the other. His other senses were beginning to wake up, with his previous pains hitting him, and his stomach complaining about the meals he missed beforehand. Ignoring his bodys grunts and aches, he redirected the mirror to take a final look at his tails, which despite suffering from a bad case of Morning Hair syndrome, were quite fine. Tails let out a yawn, putting the mirror back down and retrieving the fake Chaos Emerald before heading into the next room, which seemed to be a dim lit living room. There were no television, however there was a sofa with a large table in front of it, holding up many newspapers. The table itself seemed dusty and unused, however the papers were clean and new, sporting the days headline, '**Hero Fox Hits Heaven,** more on page 3'. Tails noted the headline, giving a quick glance to it before it hit home. _Everyone truly thinks I'm dead then... it's what I needed, but... Sonic... _Tails mentally cried to himself, shedding an actual tear as he realised what pain he was putting people through. He gave himself a quick shake and continued to explore the building. There was no television in the room, and there seemed to only have two more doors. One clearly an exit to the building, and the other a kitchen, hosting a microwave, fridge, freezer, sink and multitide of closets. A quick look into them, however, showed they were just a formality, as they were generally empty and unpowered. _Whoever owns the place musn't live here._

As if on queue, the front door shut itself after silently opening, making Tails jump and look over his shoulder.

"Hmph, finally. Have enough rest sleeping beauty?" The person mocked, his signature frown on his face.

"Shadow, you saved me?" Tails said, turning around in partial shock. "That doesn't seem like you."

"Don't think it's because I like you. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it." Shadow replied, walking over. "If it means saving you, so you can help them. So be it."

"Thank you, Shadow." Tails still replied, a shy smirk crawling over his face. His thanks were met with another grunt from Shadow however, which lowered his smirk. "So, how did you find me?"

"I caught wind of an emerald in the area. You were there." Shadow said, expression unchanging. "You got lucky too, he nearly killed you."

"Did you find the emerald then?" Tails asked, raising his hopes.

"It was a trap, you moron." Shadow scolded. "You of all people should have figured that one out, instead of running in unprepared."

"Hey!" Tails moaned, but quickly dropped to logic. "Yeah, I guess your right. It's not like Chaos Emeralds just appear like that anyhow."

"If you thought of that sooner, you wouldn't be the mess you are." Shadow continued scolding. "Your alive though, and owe me a favour." Tails grunted, his ears lowering alongside his mood.

"What do you want?" Tails muttered, looking towards the floor.

"I'll hold you to that favour for when I need it." Shadow replied. "But for now, tell me how your involved with them."

"Them?" Tails questioned. "The Chao?"

"Of course the Chao! Unless you've something else to hide?" Shadow mocked, prying information from the fox.

"I... Uhh... I stood on Chocola, and Cheese tried to murder me for it." Tails replied, ears dropping again. "I think I killed Chocola, and that ticked off Cheese."

"You can't kill them, it's impossible!" Shadow exclaimed, quickly calming themselves. "Unless... they all arn't a part of that group."

"Care to explain?" The fox inquisitively asked.

"You've already met a few, Cheese and your assassin, for example." Shadow begun. "Only speculating, but we've had a lot of Chao in our adventures, who says all of them are with Cheese?"

"So... you're saying that Cheese and his group are imposters?" Tails asked.

"Only speculating, but I have an idea to get some proof." Shadow mentioned, turning around.

"I could run a DNA check!" Tails mentioned, getting slightly excited to be of use.

"You COULD if you had a lab." Shadow reminded. "But you killed yourself with it, remember?"

"Oh yeah, right." Tails said, lowering his ears again. "By the way... can you not mention I'm alive?"  
"Why?" Shadow asked, turning around. "The Chao know your alive, what's there to gain?"

"If I can go into hiding and make something to fight the Chao..." Tails begun, wondering what he could do.

"Or you could get your friends together and do the usual." Shadow replied. "It worked every other time. Stop cowering, and get out there."

"But, everyone still thinks I'm crazy after the Chao thing..." Tails repeated, drooping his ears once more.

"What are you, a man or a mouse?" Shadow asked sternly, getting Tails attention. "Well? What are you?"

"I'm a fox...?" Tails said, wondering what Shadow was after.

"Are you a man, or are you a mouse?" Shadow repeated, staring Tails down.

"I'm a man...?"

"You don't believe that. No wonder your such a burden." Shadow mentioned, turning to leave.

"What? I can handle myself!" Tails protested.

"Then tell me. What are you?" Shadow repeated, looking over his shoulder for an answer.

"I'm a man." Tails repeated.

"What are you?" Shadow continued to repeat.

"I'm a man!" Tails repeated, raising his ears once more.

"What, are, you?!" Shadow repeated, turning to meet Tails.

"I'M A MAN!" Tails repeated, a spark of energy leaving his hand into the Chaos Emerald he was holding. Shadow raised an eyebrow, noticing it, then smirked.

"Right, then let's go." Shadow said, his rare smirk continuing.

"Where to?" Tails asked.

"We're going to get some information from our best source." Shadow continued, turning to leave. "From the good Doctor himself."

Tails looked at Shadow curiously, but was quick to follow. He didn't know why, but he was motivated to see things through, and any information he could learn would, and must be of some use. It was Shadow after all, he didn't do things that were pointless.

Sonic had made his way to the lab and was moving boulders, finding it difficult to shift anything, let alone search for anyone. The labour had put his mind off of thinking, but they were quickly creeping back up on him to haunt him. He was looking for his best friend, who he had knew for a long time. _How could he have died so young?_

Sonic shook his head again, ramming himself against a boulder with little progress. _Seriously Rouge, what were you thinking? Ugh, this bites, I can't move something that large. I better see if Knuckles will help, else Rouge will think I just didn't do anything._

His destination set, he sped off, quickly arriving where he needed to be. There were perks to being the fastest thing alive, but you can never out run your troubles. Sonic quickly looked around the Mystic Ruins, speeding off over to Angel Island and to the Master Emerald Shrine, quickly met by it's red guardian, who sat atop of the emerald, looking down on him through closed eyelids.

"Hey Knuckles!" Sonic said, feigning his previous cheery nature. Knuckles replied with a short nod and a grunt, to acknowledge Sonic's presence. "Not even going to say hello back?"

"What do you want?" Knuckles replied, opening an eye to look down on Sonic.

"Cut to the chase, I can dig that." Sonic said, mocking Knuckles playfully. "I need some help moving some things."

"What do I look like, a labourer?!" Knuckles replied aggressively, clearly agitated by such a simple job. "Find someone else!"

"You're the strongest guy who'd do it." Sonic replied, trying to calm Knuckles down.

"Don't patronise me." Knuckles scolded, shutting his eye again.

"Look... I'm digging up Tails' body." Sonic said, his tone back down from his cheery self. "I can't move all the crap there, I need your help to break it or move it."

"What do you mean, your looking for Tails' body?" Knuckles asked, both of his eyes opening curiously.

"What, you don't know?" Sonic said, slightly shocked, but expecting it. "I suppose you wouldn't, spending your time here."

"What? Tell me!" Knuckles said, jumping down from the Master Emerald.

"Tails died last night." Sonic begun, his tone quiet and melancholy. "His lab exploded, and he didn't survive. I'm trying to find his body."

"What...? You're kidding?" Knuckles replied, obviously stunned. "Tell me you're joking!"

"It's... not a joke Knuckles." Sonic said slowly, his voice hurt. "He's dead."

Knuckles didn't take the news too well, turning and slamming his fist into the nearby Master Emerald, fracturing it and chipping pieces off which landed on the ground nearby.

"DAMN IT!" Knuckles shouted, punching the emerald again. "I could have saved him!"

"Huh?" Sonic said, looking at Knuckles curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Tails came here, raving like a lunatic yesterday." Knuckles begun, retrieving his hand from the dented emerald and moving to reclaim the shards. "He was screaming about Chao's being evil. Eggman must have done something!"

"I checked with him. I don't think this one was Eggman." Sonic said, trying to calm Knuckles down. "He didn't gloat or anything, it wouldn't be like him."

"It's Eggman, you idiot!" Knuckles shouted, starting to swing for Sonic, who nimbly ducked the blow. "He's always been a trickster and a liar! It's GOT to be him!"

"Knuckles, calm down..." Sonic tried again.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" Knuckles angrily retorted, swinging wildly for Sonic who had to jump the blow. "I could have saved the kid! HE'S ONLY AT GREEN HILL ZONE!"

"It's too late. What's done is done." Sonic tried to comfort Knuckles, but only reopened his own wounds. "Tails... is gone. He deserves to be buried..."

_I'll get you for this one, Eggman! _Knuckles screamed in his mind, but calmed himself down. "Lets go. He deserves better than being left to rot."

"Y... yeah." Sonic replied, but ready to break down. "I'll... I'll meet you there... there's something... I gotta take care of..." And with that, Sonic sped away, leaving only a trail of dust and noise. Knuckles shook his head, trying to calm down, and begun to glide away towards Green Hill Zone. _I'll get you for this Eggman, mark my words._

Shadow and Tails were outside Robotnik's latest fortress, but both were curious as to it's condition.

"It's a wreck." Tails mentioned, looking it up and down. "You don't think Eggman's in here, do you?"

"He's here, but I think the Chao got here first." Shadow mentioned, boosting inside, Tails quickly following after. The path were littered with blast marks, scrapped metal, and wasted explosives. _The Chao did all this? What monsters are they, and what power do they have? _Tails thought to himself as he flew along. _There's no trace of them anywhere. No bodies, no weapons, no scratch marks. Nothing._

"Are you sure it was the Chao?" Tails asked curiously, looking around as they entered a large, dome room full of scrap metal. One of Robotnik's larger machines stood there, it's spiked fists thrown aside and a gaping, spherical hole down the centre of it. It looked to have had no time to react before it was effortlessly destroyed.

"We know little about them, but they know all about us. Who else would it be?" Shadow reminded, progressing quickly through the wreckage.

"That's the robot that Sonic destroyed when we first met..." Tails mentioned, looking back with a hint of nostalgia in his gaze. Shadow made no retort, just progressed onwards.

"Hey... that looks like..." Tails begun, staring at another pile of scrap.

"Me, I know." Shadow finished, jetting past it briskly. "It'll be one of the doctors androids. Looks like something cut it up."

"We must be close then." Tails mentioned, catching up to Shadow.

"Closer than you think." A voice replied, with one of the nearby computer monitors turning on to reveal the face of their balding rival.

"Ah, the doctor himself, always hiding behind his machines." Shadow casually mocked, walking up to the trashed computer.

"I'm not far, but I'm not taking any chances." Robotnik replied, shrugging off Shadow's taunt. "I'm sure you've seen the wreckage."

"Have the Chao come after you already?" Shadow asked, looking around for a camera.

"Oh no, I have Sonic to thank for this mess." Robotnik mentioned with a grunt. "Always trashing my machines, this time without reason."

"Sonic was here?" Tails asked, flying into the room.

"Ah, Tails! So glad to see you safe." Robotnik commented sarcastically, feigning a grin. "Though it was clear someone of our intellect wouldn't be so easily killed, hmm?"

"What happened here?" Tails asked.

"Sonic happened here, foxboy." Robotnik repeated, beginning a mocking, sad tone. "Sonic was so angsty and crying that he came here to commit suicide. Shame he didn't manage to do it, it would have removed a thorn in my side. OOOhohoho~!" Eggman's laugh pierced Tails like an arrow, but he knew better than to fall for the bait.

"Doctor, let's get to business." Shadow stated, stopping his search. "What are these Chao, and how many of them are there?"

"I could ask you the same thing Shadow, all I've heard are Tails' rants here, but his scratches are enough to justify their existence." Robotnik said, looking directly at Tails. "If anyone knows anything, it's our fellow fox here."

"Hmph, what a waste." Shadow said, turning to leave again.

"Off so soon? You didn't even begin." Robotnik mentioned, stopping Shadow. "Sure, we don't know what they are yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't here. And what's existent has some scientific basis."

"What are you implying, doctor?" Shadow asked, looking back over his shoulder.

"What do you always do when something bad happens?" Robotnik asked sarcastically. "You gather up seven Chaos Emeralds, and blow it up."

"Doctor, those things don't die." Shadow mentioned. "How can we kill what we can't?"

"Nothing is invincible. All I need is a sample of something of them, then a weakness would be clear." Robotnik boasted. "But heck, if you can't find a way to knock one out, you could always bring a limb."

"Gross." Tails commented.

"Suck it up." Shadow replied to Tails. "And what's in it for you, doctor?"

"You say it like I have nothing to gain so far!" Robotnik said. "After all, being bested by newcomer villains isn't on my priority list."

_It's more than that, Doctor._ Shadow thought to himself. "Fine, if we ever get a chance, we'll bring you something. Anything else for us?"

"Ah yes, there was one more thing." Robotnik said, turning from the camera. "This monitor is rigged to blow. You have a good day now! Ooohohohoho~!" With a stunningly high pitched squeal, the monitor exploded in a flare of glass shrapnel and force, knocking over the fox and smashing his head into the nearby wall, making him lose consciousness.

Sonic had returned to the Lab a long time after leaving Angel Island, finding Knuckles was already hard at work with removing the wreckage. He had seperated the rocks and rubble from the machinery and simply piled it up at the side.

"Hey Knux. How's it going?" Sonic started with the small talk, avoiding the current investigation at hand.

"Nothing, but it was Tails' Lab, it will have an underground area. Was just waiting for you about that, actually." Knuckles replied.

"Oh?" Sonic asked, looking around at the area.

"I'm sure you can sprint around and move the smaller pieces down there, so..." Knuckles begun, smashing a hole into the floor he was standing on, jumping down it afterwards.

"Ahh, I see." Sonic said, jumping down after. He proceeded to sprint around the ruined area, noticing that although there was a large explosion above, hardly anything below had truly erupted. There were scorch marks and small holes everywhere, but nothing serious.

"This... can't be right." Knuckles said, looking at the holes. Sonic sped back to Knuckles to check what he had found. "This is a bullet mark!"

"The heck? A gun shot?" Sonic exclaimed, quirking his eye and sprinting off to look around once more. Another scan of the area lead to a trail of bullet marks, and sooner or later, blood. "Yeah, I've found some blood Knuckles. Looks like you're right."

It was only a short moment before Knuckles had came to join him, glancing at the scene.

"Hmm, this blood isn't from a gun shot. Look, it's a splatter mark." Knuckles pointed out, looking at the trail of blood. "And it's constant down the hall, not spotty like a bullet."

"Sheesh, sue me for not using guns." Sonic retorted, staring at the blood. "If not guns, then what, Mr. Expert?" As if by nature, Knuckles looked up to see a large hole in the roof. A quick jump up and sniff showed him one of the larger problems at hand.

"There's slash marks all around here, in sets of three. And there's gas everywhere!" Knuckles explained, jumping back down. "Whoever attacked Tails was suicidal, but Tails must have fought back. Unless his attacker had sharp claws, anyhow."

"Hmm, it would explain the explosion." Sonic begun, pondering. "But why would gas still be there if it was that, and why didn't the roof cave in?"

"Hmm, good point. Follow that trail, it's got to lead somewhere." Knuckles mentioned, pointing to the blood. Sonic was quick to react, following the trail to a second hole in the roof at a concrete floor. There was a large pool of cold blood here too, next to a machine gun and a second pool of... something. The safe that was on the nearby table had also been thrown aside too, and a button behind it pressed.

_Tails' self destruct button. That explains the explosion, but what about him? _Sonic thought to himself. He sprinted back to Knuckles to inform him of what he found. "A gun, no body, and a black cesspool."

"Black cesspool?" Knuckles exclaimed, pushing past Sonic to look for himself. "What the heck IS that?"

"Beats me, but looks like he's not here." Sonic shrugged, standing next to Knuckles once again.

"You're right, looks like the trail backtracks here too. It must follow the trail we found." Knuckles explained, tracing the direction he supposedly found with his eyes. "Let's follow it until it ends." Sonic, eager to find out what had happened to his buddy, once again sprinted off, chasing the trail through the lab to many locations, all ending at a button which was pressed in, and finally leading up the stairs, back outside to the rubble. He quickly began to throw the nearby rocks aside, hearing tinks and clunks as they collided with metal and other rocks, soon to discover another path of blood. Thin and small, however, leading on towards the nearby beach. The end of the trail stopped at a smouldered campfire, the remains of burned fish on the ground and around the air. Knuckles, who had finally caught up to Sonic, was looking down at the pile.

"What does this mean?" Knuckles wondered aloud, staring at the mess.

"What do you think? It means my little buddy's alive!" Sonic said, glee and anticipation in his voice.

"And in danger, by whoever chased him." Knuckles reminded. "We better find him, fast."

"Yeah, but what can we do at this time?" Sonic said, looking up for the sun, only to find it had been replaced with a moon, half metallic, half rock which floated around the sky.

"I guess you're right. But we'll have to search for him tomorrow." Knuckles mentioned, turning to leave. "Get some rest, and get up early. That boy needs our help."

"You don't have to tell me twice. See you, knucklehead!" Sonic quipped, sprinting off into the moonlit horizon. Knuckles gave him a flat stare, but broke into a smile. _Perhaps the boy wasn't dead, but he is still in trouble. _Knuckles shook his head and jumped into the air, beginning his flight back to Angel Island.


End file.
